Existing Home Sales Rose for Fourth Consecutive Month in June

Washington, DC, July 21, 2016—Boosted by a greater share of sales to first-time buyers not seen in nearly four years, existing-home sales maintained their upward trajectory in June, rising 1.1%, and increased for the fourth consecutive month, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Only the Northeast saw a decline in closings in June, and sales to investors fell to their lowest overall share since July 2009.

Total existing-home sales climbed 1.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million in June from a downwardly revised 5.51 million in May. After last month's gain, sales are now up 3.0% from June 2015 (5.41 million) and remain at their highest annual pace since February 2007 (5.79 million).

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the impressive four month streak of sales gains through June caps off a solid first half of 2016 for the housing market. "Existing sales rose again last month as more traditional buyers and fewer investors were able to close on a home despite many competitive areas with unrelenting supply and demand imbalances," he said. "Sustained job growth as well as this year's descent in mortgage rates is undoubtedly driving the appetite for home purchases.”

Cautions Yun, "Looking ahead, it's unclear if this current sales pace can further accelerate as record high stock prices, near-record low mortgage rates and solid job gains face off against a dearth of homes available for sale and lofty home prices that keep advancing."

The median existing-home price for all housing types in June was $247,700, up 4.8% from June 2015 ($236,300). June's price increase marks the 52nd consecutive month of year-over-year gains and surpasses May's peak median sales price of $238,900.

Total housing inventory at the end of June dipped 0.9% to 2.12 million existing homes available for sale, and is now 5.8% lower than a year ago (2.25 million). Unsold inventory is at a 4.6-month supply at the current sales pace, which is down from 4.7 months in May.

The share of first-time buyers was 33% in June, which is up from 30% in May and a year ago and is the highest since July 2012 (34%). Through the first six months of the year, first-time buyers have represented an average of 31% of buyers; they were 30% in all of 2015.